Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: bubsie012 on August 07, 2024, 09:55:39 pm
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Perhaps you should go purchase a lottery ticket.
And if you do, tell us your numbers! I think that's the first time I've ever seen PCM accept an appeal.
Ha, I think I used all my luck while fighting this ticket! I just wanted to share an update to spread some hope! :)
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Wow… well done. Perhaps you should go purchase a lottery ticket.
Haha I think I will :) I think I just got lucky but this forum really helped - I wouldn't have normally even appealed so really grateful to the community here!
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Perhaps you should go purchase a lottery ticket.
And if you do, tell us your numbers! I think that's the first time I've ever seen PCM accept an appeal.
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Wow… well done. Perhaps you should go purchase a lottery ticket.
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Just in case anyone is interested, I won the appeal! ;D
I wrote to PCM and told them that 5 minutes is simply not enough consideration time for the driver to understand/accept the T&Cs. I also said that this was covert surveillance to issue a PCN where the consideration period had not ended.
Also threw in a bit about the charge being disproportionate and not commercially justifiable (the amount charged is not based upon any commercially justifiable loss to their company or the landowner).
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Thanks b789 for your detailed and considered reply!
Thugs, indeed! I read the T&Cs for IPC and it was all about making more money and supporting their members, as you mentioned. >:(
I'll try Plan A, and Plan B if that fails - fingers crossed! It's always worth a try even if it fails.
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It is unfair but you are dealing with a firm of ex-clamper thugs who are out to scam you. This is easily defenced, however, any initial appeal and subsequent secondary appeal is not going to work.
PCM are an IPC member and their trade association are simply a cartel whose only interest is protecting their members. Their secondary, supposedly "independent" appeals service, is simply a kangaroo court and less than 5% of appeals submitted are accepted.
Not to worry though. There are 4 plans of action. Plan A is to get the landowner or whoever contracted PCM to get the PCN cancelled. Find out if it is the Co Op who either own the land or contracted PCM to manage the car park. If so, email the CEO or as high up the management food chain you can go and explain that as a patron of their store, you do not expect to be invoiced by an unregulated private parking company for £100.
Plan B is to appeal to PCM, for what it's worth. However, there is a flaw in their Notice to Keeper (NtK) which renders it non-compliant with The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA). What this means is that if they do not know the identity of the driver, they cannot transfer liability to the keeper. So, any appeal is made by the keeper and, as there is no legal obligation to identify the driver to an unregulated private parking company, you decline to do so.
The keeper will need to make sure that they do not identify the driver inadvertently or otherwise. If selecting any options, do not select "driver". Only "keeper" or "other".
As the Plan B appeal will be rejected, there is then Plan C. Personally, I wouldn't bother but others on here would suggest that a less than 5% chance of convincing a cabal of incestuous paralegals that they should deny their paymasters their scam money, is still worthwhile.
Which leads on to Plan D, the ultimate dispute resolution service, the small claims track in the County Court where the only truly independent arbiter, a judge, would decide whether you owe PCM a debt. This is the most likely outcome but it is rare that it would actually get to a hearing as most of these claims are discontinued.
The keeper would receive a whole load of debt collector letters before this stage but they can ll be safely ignored as the debt collectors have no powers as they are third party to the contract the driver is alleged to ahem breached. This process is solely aimed at getting the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to capitulate and pay up. They rely on the ignorance of the majority of their victims on how the civil litigation process works. If you are here getting advice, you will not be low-hanging fruit.
There is a very small (minuscule) risk that a defence to a claim is not accepted by the judge, in which case they would find against the defendant and a CCJ is issued. However, there is no danger of a CCJ being on your credit record as long as it is paid in full within 28 days of judgment. If paid in full within that period, the CCJ is expunged from the record as though it never existed. As this would be a "small" claim, costs are fixed and any fake add ons already claimed by the useless debt collectors are not allowed. In the very worst case scenario where a claim was unsuccessfully defended, it would be no more than the £100 PCN charge plus a £35 court fee and £50 fixed legal costs. However, as I have said, that is an extremely remote likelihood.
The normal modus operandi of these scammers is to try and scare you into paying with useless threats of litigation and then filing a claim through one of the roboclaim firms of bottom-dwelling solicitors and going all the way up to the date they have to file their trial fee and if the defendant hasn't capitulated by then, they discontinue and move on to lower-hanging fruit.
We also have a very good defence which is likely to lead to a claim either being struck-out or discontinued before it ever gets to a hearing. The latest defence strategy having been advised by a long serving district judge who knows how these abusers of the court system operate.
So, for now, you need to try Plan A. Any Plan B appeal, for what it's worth, can be made just before the 28 day deadline. Just remember, do not identify the driver. The keeper is doing all the work and simply says things like "The driver did this or that...". No "I did this or that...".
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Hello,
I would really appreciate some advice on appealing a recent 'Postal Notification of Parking Charge to Keeper' letter :-\
The driver entered the car park bay at 15:27 and went into the coop to get an item. There was another person sitting and waiting in the car at this time. A person in the car behind us took the images of the vehicle stopping and leaving. No ticket was issued on the spot. The driver returned to the car and left at 15:32. On 7th August, the registered keeper (who was not the driver at the time) received the postal notification of parking charge to keeper letter.
Here is the front of the letter: https://imgur.com/a/ZRcstYb
and the back: https://imgur.com/a/LYpPv4z
And here is the image provided as evidence of the car arriving: https://imgur.com/a/n55Rjf7
and leaving: https://imgur.com/a/cNZV4Gw
The signage at the car park indicates that the first 30 minutes are free but vehicles must be registered for this parking session. Here is the signage: https://imgur.com/a/umv7bvQ
Please could someone help me appeal this? We were only there for 5 minutes and no PCN was issued to the driver on the spot. It was so sneaky of them to sit in the car and take pictures like that. Also, the dates are so confusing - according to the letter the PCN was "issued" on 27th July, the date of posting the notice is 31st July, the date the notice is given is 2nd Aug and it was received today on 7th Aug.
I would really appreciate any help. This seems really unfair...
Thank you so much in advance!